Sealed dispensing package



July 24, 1956 L. 1. voLcKENlNG 2,755,922

SEALED DISPENSING PACKAGE Filed NOV. 24, 1954 United States Patent O 2 Claims. (Cl. 20G- 56) Glen Ridge, N. J., assignor to Iversompany, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New This invention relates to sealed cartons or packages containing a plurality of individual packages of commodities and the like.

A prime object of the present invention is to provide a sealed carton or package with a frame and a exible transparent cover wrapped thereover in sealed condition, the frame having an elongated outlet slot, the edge walls of the slot being adapted to coact with and guide the finger-nail of the user in slitting the cover to permit withdrawal of the contents of the carton, through the slot.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sealed carton with a frame and exible transparent cover wrapped thereover in sealed condition, the frame having an elongated outlet slot and having a slit adapted to coact with a finger-nail of the user for initially piercing the cover in order to slit the cover along the slot for withdrawal of the contents of the carton.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sealed carton of this type wherein the individual packages contained therein may be supported on end, in side by side relationship, and readily shifted to position for withdrawal from the carton.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a sealed carton of this type with winlows so that the individual packages contained therein are instantly visible and in full view.

It is further proposed to produce a sealed carton or package of this type which is simple in construction and which can be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description thereof to follow taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which-` Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carton made in accordance with my invention, a portion of the cover being shown broken away.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional of the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the plane of the line 3-3 of Figure l.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary end elevational view showing in dot-dash lines a linger of the user in position preparatory to slitting the cover, parts being shown broken away.

Figure 5 is a similar view but showing the cover slitted and a package being extracted by the thumb and forenger of the user.

Referring to the drawing in detail, a carton or package made in accordance with the present invention is shown in Figure 1 and includes a rectangular-shaped tubular frame formed of a strip of cardboard and the like bent to produce elongated top and bottom wall portions 1 and 2, respectively, and end wall portions 3 connecting the top and bottom wall portions, the ends of the strip being fastened by adhesive as indicated at 4. The wall portions of the frame define a compartment 5 adapted to receive a plurality of individual relatively liat and thin packages 6 of rectangular configuration slightly smaller in length and width than said frame, in closely packed View taken on the plane side by side relationship with their edges abutting corresponding walls of the frame, six of such packages being shown in Figure 3. The depth of the frame is less than the length and width of the packages, thereby providing against the packages falling flatwise against any wall of the frame and insuring that the packages shall always be clearly displayed and easily movable to the slot. The packages6 may contain commodities of any desired kind. Each packages 6 preferably bears suitable printed indicia 7 on both sides thereof.

According to the invention, the top wall portion 1 of the frame is formed with a slot 8, along its longitudinal center, for its entire length, the slot having a width slightly greater than the thickness of one of said packages and intersecting the top edge of each end wall portion 3 as indicated at 9. The top edge of each end wall portion 3 is also formed with a downwardly extending short slit I0, at each side of the intersecting slot 8, said slit communicating with the slot and being disposed in alignment with the adjacent edge wall 11 of the slot 8. The frame with its contained packages 6 is wrapped in flexible transparent material, such as cellophane 12, which is folded over the end wall portions 3 and sealed as indicated at 13.

When the packages 6 are stacked in the compartment 5 provided by the wall portions of the frame in orderly fashion as shown in Figure 3, with the front sides of the packages all facing in the same direction, the front side of a package 6 will be displayed through one wall of the transparent outer cover 12, and the rear side of another package 6 will be displayed through the opposite wall of the cover so that the printed indicia 7 constituting identication marks or advertising matter on the front and rear sides of the packages 6 will be in full view of the customer at all times.

In order to open the sealed carton, a iinger-nail of the user is initially positioned over one of the slits 10 in an end wall portion 3 of the carton as shown in Figure 4 and is then forced through the cellophane, at the adjacent corner of the carton, into said slit, in order to pierce the cover. The linger-nail is then run along the adjacent edge wall 11 of the slot 8, said linger-nail coacting with the edge wall to shear the cellophane and make a sharp clean cut therealong, over said slot, for the length of the carton. After the top of the cellophane cover is thus slit, the contents of the carton is accessible through the slot 8 and the thumb and fore-finger of the user may grasp a package 6 which is in line with the slot 8 and extract the same, pushing the material aside as shown in Figure 5. After the package 6 has been removed, the material of the cover may readily be restored to flattened condition over the slot 8. By merely pressing or squeezing the sides of the carton, a package 6 may readily be shifted toward the center of the compartment 5 in line with the slot 8 for ready removal therethrough.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that changes might be made in details of construction without departing from the principle of the invention, and I desire to be limited only by the state of the prior art and the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A sealed carton comprising a rectangular tubular frame having relatively stiff top, bottom and end wall portions, said wall portions defining a compartment containing a plurality of relatively thin and ilat rectangular individual packages whose lengths and widths are slightly smaller than the length and width of said frame and disposed in closely packed relationship with their edges abutting the corresponding walls of the frame, the frame having a depth less than its length and width, and a flexible sealed transparent cover enclosing said frame and extending across the open ends thereof, one wall portion of the frame having an open outlet slot normally closed by said cover and of a length corresponding to the length of the juxtaposed edges of the packages and of a Width slightly greater than the thickness of one of said packages, the edge walls of said slot being adapted to coact with a fingernail: of the user for slittingv the cover thereby to permit Withdrawal of the packagessingly front the carton through said slot, the portions of the exible cover across the ends of the tubular frame permitting the packages to be pushed toward the slot upon application of; squeez.- 30 2;()25-,9691

ing pressure to saidl exible portions o f the cover,

45 t 2. A sealed carton as defined in claim 1 wherein the wall' portions of` the frame adjoining the ends of said' one wall containing said slot have slits in continuation of the respective edge walls of said slot to provide clearance for the fingernail during the slitting of -the cover.

References Cited inthe tile of this patent UNITED. STATES PATENTS 783,381 smith Appr. 25, 1905 l Broeren f Dec.' 31;; 1935 2,429,191 onen oet-14; 1957 

